Enhanced Care at Home in Warwick

Enhanced Care at Home in Warwick: early indications show that just over 100 unplanned admissions to hospital have been saved in the last 6 months.

In May 2017 we told you about an exciting project being funded in a joint venture of local charities and which involves GPs and Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) supporting and giving proactive care to patients in Warwick.

Warwick Relief in Need Charity, Warwick United Charities, Warwick Provident Dispensary Charity and King Henry VIII Endowed Trust alongside the main benefactor, the Charity of Thomas Oken and Nicholas Eyfller, are supporting the project. The Oken and Eyffler charity have awarded funding of £75,000 a year for three years to provide enhanced medical care to patients who live at Park View

Care home and Warwick patients who are housebound in their own home.

Patients are being offered care from a small team of GPs from Priory Medical Centre and The New Dispensary and dedicated ANPs who are employed by South Warwickshire Foundation Trust. Visiting once a week, the team offer an initial assessment, give clinical and medication reviews, discuss advanced care planning at end of life, as well as supporting relatives and care home staff. The team are also undertaking proactive visits to housebound patients to help prevent unnecessary trips into hospital and support those returning from hospital. The outcomes so far are very positive with all staff reporting a huge difference being made in the proactive care of patients.

Early indications show that just over 100 unplanned admissions to hospital have been avoided in the past six months.

Dr Nick Yeats, lead GP said: “The Oken Nurses have been in place since May and are making a significant improvement in the care provided to housebound patients. Not only do they visit acutely unwell patients who live within the Warwick town area, they are also in proactive at following up vulnerable patients discharged from hospital or move to the area. Informal feedback from patients has extremely positive and they have freed up valuable time for GPs to focus their time and energy on the more complex and unwell patients. They are an invaluable member of both the teams at the New Dispensary and Priory Medical Centre now.”

Clive Mason, Chair of the Charity of Thomas Oken and Nicholas Eyffler said; “We’re so excited and proud that after more than 400 years, the concerns of the Charity’s Founders, to care for the people of Warwick have been wholeheartedly met through this fantastic work. With the help of the other major charities in the town, the Enhanced Care at Home Project, under the inspired leadership of Dr Nick Yeats and with such committed ANPs, is already making a significant contribution to the improvement of care at home of patients in Warwick.”